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5 Key Tips to Increase Your Physician Assistant Salary – 12/19/2012

According to St. John's University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, jobs for physician assistants are expected to increase by 50 percent over the next decade. Working as a physician assistant is rewarding and lucrative. But just how lucrative? Most physician assistants are hired at the lower scale of the salary base and have room to negotiate for higher pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for a physician assistant is $86,410 per year or roughly $41.54 an hour. Although you may be tempted to bypass any discussion about salary increase, you may be surprised at how a few simple tips can result in successful negotiation. Below are five tips to increase your salary as a physician assistant.

Improve negotiation skills

Most people are surprised to find out that even after being hired as a physician assistant, they can negotiate their salary. Just like any other job, the opportunity for pay raises come up and this is the perfect opportunity to negotiate an increase in pay. Having good negotiations skills can increase the likelihood of obtaining a pay increase. In fact, the Society for Human Resource Management states that 80 percent of employers are willing to negotiate salaries with prospective employees, but only 33 percent of those hired actually engaged in salary negotiations.

Here are some key steps that can help in negotiating a pay increase:

Highlight strengths – most employees skip this step due to feeling uncomfortable discussing themselves, but it is absolutely crucial to feel confident enough to do it. Start with highlighting the value that you bring to the practice (thank you letters or emails from patients should be presented at this time).

Salary range – perhaps the most important step of all is to be familiar with the salary range for a PA according to job description. Find the salary that best suits your qualifications and job description and negotiate accordingly.

New hires should stay away from negotiating their salary until an offer is set. If the salary isn’t flexible, new hires can often negotiate better benefits. All benefits offered through negotiation should be put in writing.

Specialization and PA school attended

The most important piece in obtaining the best salary possible as a PA is to have a specialty. Specializing in a particular field of medicine provides a great opportunity for salary negotiation. General physician assistants are limited in how much they can earn; however, physician assistants that work in specialty fields such as dermatology, neurology or cardiology tend to make the most.

Education should be obtained at an accredited university. According to the National Institutes of Health, there are currently 140 programs across the United States that are accredited by the accreditation review commission on education for the physician assistant. Graduating from medical school gives a much better presentation on a resume over distant learning from a non medical university.

Employer type

Before applying for a job as a physician assistant, most applicants review job boards online or in temp agencies. This is where they discover that salary differs from state to state. Some states offer physician assistants a higher pay to work in a private clinic, whereas others offer a higher pay to work in a hospital. Pay may also differ according to specialty (i.e neurology clinic vs. neurology wing in a public hospital). Be sure to pay attention to salary differences between clinics and emergency rooms in the state where you apply.

Types of certification

Obtaining a high degree such as a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies is often the gambling piece in obtaining higher pay. The higher the degree, the higher the salary. However, learning doesn’t stop here and neither does the opportunity to obtain higher paying. Going on to receive this degree from an accredited institution is the best move. Becoming accredited shows the public that you’ve met a certain set of standards and quality. The result –higher pay.